WARNING: WARNING STILL APPLIES.
Brandon pulled into Elizabeth's driveway, and back to her house. It was farther down the gravel road than he had originally thought, but that was fine. He was content. For now.
Brandon could feel anxiety welling up in his chest. No one knew about him and Sam and this was one heck of a way to tell everyone.
It was currently 6:41, and the "dinner party" as it was being called was supposed to start at 6:30. Brandon had been running late though due to the fact that his shirt had ripped and he had to change. Which was fine since he had a shirt that was a similar color to the ripped one anyway.
Nonetheless, here they were, parking the car in front of the Ducketts' house along with several others of varying colors. Brandon took a deep breath and let it out slowly.
"You ready?" he asked, turning to look at his date. Sam was wearing a black suit with a red tie. His buttionire was a yellow rose with red ribbons around the flower's stem. Brandon was wearing black dress pants, a black button-up shirt, and a red tie as well. The buttionire pinned over his heart was identical to Sam's.
Sam reached over and grabbed Brandon's hand, squeezing it softly. "Yeah, let's go."
Brandon smiled.
They got out of the car and started walking towards the group of people mingling around the driveway and in the grass. Sam grabbed Brandon's hand again, their fingers intertwining with each other's.
Over in the grass, they could see Katie spot them coming over and point them out to everyone else. Brandon's heart was racing.
'Please don't hate us...please don't hate us...'
"Aww! You two are so cute!" Katie said. They smiled. Everyone else had similar reactions, ranging from casual and chill to squealing, bouncing, and hugging. (Brandon wasn't sure which he preferred, but what he did know was that he was relieved that there were no negative responses.)
Dinner went smoothly. The group stood in the grass for about ten minutes while parents took way too many pictures, but that was only because so many of them had to retake the same pictures on other phones/cameras for the people posing for said pictures. Most everyone's cheeks hurt from smiling by the time it was over.
After the pictures were done, they were finally able to sit down at the tables that had been set up in the yard and eat. They all talked and laughed and took ridiculous pictures and selfies of each other. By the time 8:30 rolled around, everyone had finished eating. The topic had taken a 90 degree turn off somewhere, and no one was quite sure where, but they were all enjoying themselves anyway.
Brandon would occasionally sneak a glance at Sam, and more than a few times, they'd catch each other's eyes for a few seconds before looking away with soft smiles dancing across their lips. More than just a couple people noticed.
So by 8:40, everyone was back in cars and heading off to the dance. It was about 20 minutes later when Brandon and Sam were pulling into the school parking lot. They got out together and walked up to the doors, tickets in hand to show the teachers acting as 'security'.
The dance went from nine until 11, and they spent about as much time in the gym dancing as they did sitting in the cafeteria just socializing. It was hot in the gym and by ten o'clock, most of the girls had kicked off their shoes and the boys had taken off their suit jackets if they'd worn one. The wall was lined with varying heights of heels and flats sitting in little groups of jackets and purses. Girls would occasionally run off to check their phones or take a picture or reapply some sort of makeup. (The boys found this slightly annoying.)
Two slow songs were played. The first came when the dance was about three fourths of the way over, and the other came on right at 11 when people had already started to leave and didn't realize that there was another song playing.
When the first slow song came on, people scrambled to find their dates (some of which hadn't seen each other for some time). Sam and Brandon had been sitting in a group of band kids along the bleachers. When the music started to play, Brandon stood up. He held out his hand to the brunette still sitting on the floor.
"May I have this dance?" he asked. Sam took his hand and let Brandon pull him to his feet.
"You may."
As they walked towards the main body of dancing students, Brandon could have sworn he had heard a couple "aww"s. He figured it was probably Andrea and Katie.
When they were standing on the gray tarp being used to protect the floor, Brandon turned to face Sam. He put his hands on Sam's waist as the other rested his arms on Brandon's shoulders. Sam's fingers twined loosely against the back of Brandon's neck. They swayed side to side together, moving with the music. Afterwards, neither would have been able to tell you what song was playing or even what it sounded like. They didn't spare it a second thought as they smiled at each other, not caring that there were people watching.
This happened again the second time. They stood closer together and at one point, Sam moved his hands to Brandon's back and leaned his head against his shoulder. When the song ended, and they both pulled apart slightly, Sam pecked Brandon's cheek before the two went off to say goodbye to their friends and leaving for home.
In the car, they sat there for a second, waiting to see if it was worth it to try and leave at the present moment due to all the cars already vying to get out first. They both decided to wait a little bit and just sit for a while. It was a little chilly out, but not too cold for mid October.
"You know, it is Saturday..." Sam said.
"Game night?"
Sam's only response was to smile. The two pulled out their phones and texted their parents. Without waiting for answers, Brandon started the car and headed off to Sam's house so the teen could grab overnight stuff, and then off home. They played games until three, not caring that they might have things to do the next day.
There came a certain point where they just turned off the games and fell asleep about two seconds later. Brandon kissed Sam, mumbled something in his ear, and then they were both dead to the world until morning.
"I love you."